The  Mormons . 


BY 


Rev  E.  O,  Guerrant,  l).  D 


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THE  MORMO 


BY 

REV.  E.  O.  GUERRANT,  I).  I). 


L!EP  ■ Y 
GF  7 .iE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


RICHMOND,  YA. : 

Pkesbytekian  Committee  of  Publication. 


Copyrighted 

by 

JA.S.  K.  HAZEN,  Secretary  of  Publication, 
1899. 


Printed  by 

Whittet  & Shepperson, 
Richmond,  Ya. 


Ss'g 

Q9^vn 


THE  MORMONS. 


My  reply  to  your  request  to  write  something 
about  the  Mormons  has  been  delayed  by  other 
matters,  and  the  hope  that  more  competent 
hands  would  do  it.  The  conviction  that  some- 
body should  expose  this  monster  iniquity  of 
the  cehtury,  only,  impels  me  to  comply  with 
your  kind  request. 

I shall  have  time  now  only  to  give  an  outline 
'{of  their  origin  and  teachings.  It  would  take 
<fvolumes  to  fully  set  forth  the  history  of  this 
Imodern  abomination. 

I feel  confident  that  many  of  our  people  do 
not  know  the  character  of  this  body,  nor  the 
magnitude  of  the  effort  it  is  making  to  spread 
its  doctrines.  General  Eaton  (Ex-Commis- 
sioner of  Education  of  the  United  States)  says 
vthat  their  missionaries  are  estimated  to  num- 

i-L 

iDer  two  thousand , three  hundred, 
i I know  they  are  travelling  all  over  our  land, 
2^two  by  two,  canvassing  every  school  district, 
distributing  their  literature,  and  preaching  in 

933 i 86 


4 


The  Mormons. 


public  school-houses,  contrary  to  our  law, 
which  says,  N o sectarian , infidel  or  immoral 
doctrine  shall  be  taught  in  our  school-houses/’ 
I have  met  them  in  the  most  distant  and  in- 
accessible parts  of  the  mountains.  "They  com- 
pass sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte.” 
They  have  more  missionaries  in  Kentucky 
(and  probably  in  every  Southern  State)  than 
all  other  denominations  together.  They  have 
members  in  every  State  and  Territory  but  five, 
and  have  scores  of  missionaries  in  foreign 
lands,  and  are  winning  perverts  to  their  faith 
by  thousands.  Of  course,  they  are  mostly 
among  the  poor  and  ignorant  classes,  but  they 
have  souls , and  constitute  the  mass  of  man- 
kind. 

Origin. 

As  is  well  known,  the  founder  of  this  sect 
was  Joseph  Smith,  who  was  born  in  Vermont 
in  1805,  but  brought  up  in  New  York,  at  Pal- 
myra. His  mother  was  an  ignorant  and  super- 
stitious fortune-teller,  and  his  neighbors  pro- 
nounced him  “an  ignorant,  idle  youth,  given 
to  chicken  stealing.”  He  could  not  write, 
though  he  could  read,  and  his  favorite  books 
were  “Capt.  Kidd , the  Pirate  ” and  “Stephen 


The  Mormons. 


5 


Burroughs , the  Clerical  Scoundrel”  How  nat- 
urally his  after  life  took  the  complexion  of 
his  early  companions.  His  associates  in  start- 
ing his  Church  were  Sidney  Bigdon,  a back- 
sliding  preacher,  and  Parley  P.  Pratt,  a travel- 
ling tin-peddler — all  unscrupulous,  cunning 
and  characterless.  They  were  followed  by 
Brigham  Young,  whom  Judge  Goodwin  (edi- 
tor of  the  Salt  Lake  Tribune)  describes  as 
“the  worst  of  men ; intellectually  he  was  not 
bright,  but  he  was  full  of  animal  magnetism; 
and  though  his  heart  was  that  of  a sheep,  there* 
was  a great  deal  of  wolf  in  his  forehead ; pos- 
sessing a stubbornness  that  never  yielded,  and 
a plausible  tongue.  His  avarice  was  measure- 
less. He  never  looked  on  without  coveting  his 
neighbor's  fair  wife,  good  horse,  or  profitable 
investments."  Prom  such  a source  nothing 
but  Mormonism  could  proceed,  and  it  is 
worthy  of  its  parentage. 

The  so-called  “Book  of  Mormon,"  is  a ro- 
mance entitled  “The  Manuscript  Found," 
written  by  an  invalid  Congregational  preacher 
named  Solomon  Spaulding,  of  Ohio,  but 
never  published.  It  gives  in  Biblical  style  a 
fanciful  history  of  the  Mound-builders,  a peo- 


The  Mormons. 


G 

pie  who  are  supposed  to  have  preceded  the  In- 
dians in  the  Ohio  Valley.  This  manuscript 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Smith  or  Rigdon  (stolen 
probably)  , and  was  grossly  altered  to  suit  their 
purpose.  This  is  the  Book  of  Mormon.  The 
Mormon  Bible  is  a sacrilegious  imitation  of 
the  Holy  Bible — changed  to  suit  the  revolting 
doctrines  of  the  new  faith  of  its  founders. 

“Joe”  Smith  was  killed  by  his  indignant  and 
outraged  neighbors,  at  Carthage,  111.,  in  1844. 
Pratt  was  killed  in  Arkansas  in  1856  for 
'stealing  a man’s  wife.  Rigdon  was  expelled 
from  the  Mormon  Church  and  given  over  to 
Satan  by  Brigham  Young  ! 

Doctrine. 

For  doctrine  the  Mormon  Church  rests  on 
two  pillars  P olytheism  and  P olygamy — twin 
relics  of  heathenism,  many  gods  and  many 
wives.  Take  these  away,  and  it  falls  like  the 
temple  of  Dagon. 

Adam  is  the  Mormon  God,  and  all  the  rest 
of  their  gods  were  men,  and  became  gods  by 
practicing  polygamy.  They  teach  that  “God, 
angels  and  men  are  all  of  one  species.” 

They  teach  that  the  “Holy  Ghost  is  a man , 


The  Mormons. 


7 


one  of  the  sons  of  our  Father  and  our  God.” 
I quote  their  own  language. 

Their  whole  system  is  idolatrous  man  wor- 
ship. They  teach  that  their  gods  are  polyga- 
mists; that  Jesus  Christ  had  three  wives. 

Again^  their  chief  god  changes  his  mind 
when  it  suits  him  (or  them);  as  he  did  in  once 
denouncing  polygamy  (in  1830);  and  after- 
wards recommendilig  it  (in  1843)  to  accom- 
modate Joseph  Smith. 

It  is  the  fashion  of  their  missionaries  to 
deny  these  well-known  facts;  and  especially 
their  well-known  practice  of  polygamy.  But 
this  is  of  a piece  with  their  whole  system  of 
deception  in  beguiling  the  ignorant  into  their 
net.  They  are  “wolves  in  sheep’s  clothing.” 

Rev.  Dr.  Wishard;  of  Salt  Lake  City,  says 
that  polygamy  is  fundamental  to  the  system; 
that  “it  is  now  taught  and  practiced  in  all  the 
towns  of  Utah;  where  it  has  ever  been  prac- 
ticed.” “The  assertion  that  polygamy  is  dead 
would  produce  a smile  on  the  face  of  an  honest 
Mormon.”  This  is  the  recent  testimony  of  a 
distinguished  clergyman  who  knows  them 
well.  “To  live  our  religion;  is  to  live  in  polyg- 
amy/’ said  their  priest;  McAlister. 


8 


The  Mormons. 


John  D.  Lee,  for  thirty-seven  years  a Mor- 
mon Bishop  land  priest,  who  was  executed  for 
murder,  confessed  that  he  had  nineteen  wives, 
and  sixty-four  children. 

“The  (Mormon)  Saints ” (they  call  them- 
selves the  “Latter-day  Saints”)  “have  made 
Utah  a modern  Sodom,  and  the  paradise  of 
libertines.”  This  is  the  testimony  of  Judge 
Boreman,  for  eight  years  associate  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Bench  of  Utah,  and  before  whom 
Bishop  John  D.  Lee  was  tried  before  he  was 
executed.  It  was  Lee  that  led  the  Mountain 
Meadow  Massacre,  in  which  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty  innocent  emigrants  were 
murdered,  and  their  property  taken  in  1857. 

Of  course,  you  would  not  expect  to  find 
truth  or  sobriety  or  other  virtues  in  such  com- 
pany. So  we  are  told  that  profanity  and  per- 
jury are  almost  universal.  A resident  of  Salt 
Lake  City  challenged  any  Mormon  to  produce 
a single  case  where  a Mormon  was  ever  cut  off 
from  his  Church  for  murder,  theft,  lying, 
drunkenness,  fornication,  profanity,  or  Sab- 
bath breaking.  Miss  Mary  Cort  (who  taught 
five  years  in  Utah)  told  me  she  never  knew  a 
Mormon  who  would  tell  the  truth  when  it 
would  convict  another  Mormon. 


The  Mormons. 


9 


Prof.  Coyner,  for  many  years  superinten- 
dent of  Salt  Lake  Collegiate  Institute,  says, 
“Business  has  thrown  me  among  all  classes  of 
society  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  but  the 
most  profane  and  vulgar  address  I ever  lis- 
tened to,  I heard  delivered  by  Brigham 
Young” — the  Mormon  high  priest  and 
prophet. 

“No  pen  can  describe  the  demoralizing  effect 
upon  the  young,  nor  adequately  set  forth  the 
lack  of  morality  on  the  part  of  a vast  majority 
of  young  men  and  women  who  are  brought  up 
in  connection  with  it.  In  fact,  they  don’t 
seem  to  know  what  the  term  morality  means !’ 
So  says  Rev.  Dr.  McNiece,  for  many  years  pas- 
tor of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Salt 
Lake  City. 

Of  course,  hatred  and  persecution  naturally 
belong  to  such  a system.  And  from  the  begin- 
ning they  have  waged  an  unrelenting  warfare 
against  all  others. 

Their  creed  teaches  disloyalty  to  all  civil 
government,  and  the  President  of  the  United 
States  had  to  remove  Brigham  Young  from 
being  Governor  of  Utah,  and  appoint  a law- 
abiding  citizen  of  Georgia  in  his  place. 


10 


The  Mormons. 


Private  murder  by  their  “blood  avengers/’ 
culminated  at  last  in  the  “Mountain  Meadow 
Massacre/’  when  John  D.  Lee,  a Mormon 
elder,  with  a band  of  Mormons  and  Indians,  in 
Southern  Utah,  murdered,  in  cold  blood,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, emigrating  from  Arkansas  to  California. 
This  .man,  inspired  by  Brigham  Young,  was 
shot  at  last  by  the  United  States  authorities, 
after  twenty  years’  delay  by  the  Mormons,  who 
prevented  his  earlier  conviction.  The  penalty 
for  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  Endowment 
House,  where  all  marriages  are  celebrated,  is 
to  “have  your  throat  cut  from  ear  to  ear,  and 
your  tongue  torn  from  your  mouth.” 

Their  vindictive  spirit  may  be  learned  from 
this  expression  of  one  of  their  apostles,  “I  do 
pray  for  our  enemies.  I pray  that  God  will 
damn  them  and  send  them  down  to  hell.”  Such 
is  the  spirit  of  Mormonism. 

“The  degradation  of  Mormonism  falls  more 
heavily  upon  woman  than  upon  man,”  says 
General  Eaton.  She  is  made  the  tool  and  the 
slave  of  his  greed  and  lust.  She  cannot  live 
on  earth  except  as  a concubine,  nor  enter 
heaven  at  all,  except  by  marriage.  “I  have 


The  Mormons. 


11 


shed  tears  enough  since  I have  been  in  polyg- 
amy to  drown  myself  twice  over.”  This  is  the 
language  of  a Mormon  wife — of  the  Prophet 
himself.  Another  said,  “The  plains  from  Mis- 
souri to  this  valley  are  strewn  with  the  bones 
of  those  whom  this  system  has  killed,  and  the 
cemetery  on  the  hill  is  full  of  them,  but  every 
one  of  these  women  is  now  wearing  a martyr’s 
crown.” 

Is  anything  else  necessary  to  damn  such  a 
system?  You  wonder  that  it  could  exist  at  all 
in  this  country  of  ours.  But  remember,  the 
great  majority  of  its  adherents  are  very  igno- 
rant and  poor  people,  and  many  are  foreigners 
who  cannot  read  our  language ; many  are  sin- 
cere and  honest  in  their  belief  because  they  are 
enslaved  by  wicked  and  designing  teachers. 

But  I weary  you,  and  have  no  space  to  say 
anything  of  the  tyranny  of  their  priesthood, 
nor  the  greed  of  their  tithing  system,  with  an 
income  of  a million  a year  and  no  account 
given  of  it,  nor  of  their  celestial  marriages  (of 
the  living  to  the  dead),  nor  their  baptism  for 
the  dead — nor  their  doctrine  of  “blood  atone- 
ment” which  taught  that  a man  might  be  mur- 
dered to  save  his  soul.  These  are  some,  not  all, 


12 


The  Mormons. 


of  the  tenets  of  this  monstrous  crime  of  the 
nineteenth  century — this  open  sore  of  the 
world! 

I do  not  wonder  that  Rev.  Dr.  McNiece 
says,  “Let  Paganism,  Judaism,  Jesuitism, 
Protestantism  and  Diabolism  be  shaken  up 
and  the  result  is  Mormonism.” 

God’s  description  of  this  abomination  is 
found  in  2 Peter  ii. 

To  his  hands  we  confidently  commit  its 
overthrow,  and  pray  for  our  country  and  our 
children. 


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